Integrating Social Studies and English Curriculum to Encourage Literacy

I would like to share a lesson plan I learned about at the Colorado Council for Social Studies 2017 Conference created by four amazingly talented content specialists from Aurora Public Schools.

“Breaking Down the Content Silos: Designing engaging learning experiences that integrate social studies and literacy“ is about creating “engaging learning experiences that integrate social studies and literacy,” and is geared towards elementary and middle school teachers. This lesson plan is great for any skill level as well, as it includes effective ways to level writing assignments using the same primary sources for every student through WIDA Can Do Descriptors.

Everything you need is included in the link above, including primary and secondary source sets focusing around Japanese internment camps and culture during WWII, Camp Amache Colorado Experience video to build background knowledge, links to artifact trunks that can be checked out for free from local museums, worksheets, and more helpful resources from the CDE, National Archives, and the Library of Congress.

This primary source activity makes integrating the social studies and reading, writing, and communicating standards easy.